


Stay

by TheWonderTwins



Series: NaNoWriMo 2017 [8]
Category: Stargate SG-1, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Stargate Fusion, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen or Pre-Ship, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Kidge - Freeform, Pidge is a tech wizard, Voltron Paladins are SG-1, because they're military and have rank and that takes time, but no Voltron, everyone is a little older
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 02:57:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12878721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWonderTwins/pseuds/TheWonderTwins
Summary: Pidge and the other members of SG-1 go on mission to investigate what could be the most important technological find since the discovery of the Stargate, but what they find is so much more than they ever expected...





	Stay

Pidge waited eagerly for the rest of her team to arrive in the briefing room; the results were back from the UAV they’d sent out and this mission had the potential to be _big_. She kept herself from pacing by rereading the notes she’d put together for General Iverson, and silently tapping her finger against the folder. Nervous tick, but more professional than wearing a hole in the carpet with her standard issue boots. 

Lt. Col. Shirogane was first to arrive and she saluted respectfully, stilling completely for the first time since the UAV came back.

“At ease, Lieutenant.” Shiro saluted her quickly and found his seat. 

Within the SGC and at formal functions, Pidge and her team remained strictly professional, but the truth was that they were all friends, _good_ friends, and the rigidity of rank and decorum was discarded the moment they were able. 

Lieutenants McClain and Garrett arrived together shortly after and sat next to Shiro who passed them each a file. Lance practically lounged in his chair, swinging back and forth idly as he skimmed the pages while Hunk poured the three of them coffee. Pidge wasn’t allowed to have any coffee after Hunk had caught her on a 58 hour no-sleep, coffee-is-a-food-group bender at the Garrison. 

General Iverson arrived, the four of them saluted--the picture of military obedience and respect--and the briefing began.

“The UAV finished its sweep of P4R-U55 and sent these aerial shots of the area in a twenty mile radius around the gate.” Pidge pulled the images up on the screen with the projector. “As you can see, there are ruins of an Altean castle about six miles from the gate.”

“No wonder you’re practically vibrating.” Lance drawled.

Pidge narrowed her eyes at him, but continued. “It’s in remarkably good condition, and if you’ll notice here,” she clicked the remote a couple times to skip to another slide, one that had a magnified image of the castle, and used a laser pointer to circle one of the towers, “the lights are on.”

“Lights? You mean, this thing still has power? After 10,000 years?” Hunk asked.

“Image the technology we could find; the Alteans built the teludav--”

“Stargate.” Hunk and Lance corrected automatically.

Pidge ignored them. “That castle could hold wonders we haven’t even imagined!”

“We are not the first to think that.” Hunk flipped through the briefing packet until he landed on another image. “There’s a Galra camp five miles west of the castle.”

“Abandoned by the look of it.” Shiro examined the map as well. “Possible they couldn’t get in. Far as I know, there aren’t any Galra with the Altean gene.”

“For the navigational technology alone I’d be willing to risk it.” Pidge sighed wistfully. “Defense shields, ships, medical advancements…”

“None of which is a guarantee, Lieutenant.” Iverson didn’t look as wowed by her briefing as Pidge would have expected. Didn’t he understand the significance of this?

“If nothing else, Sir, the castle is getting its power from somewhere. Any power source that can last 10,000 years is worth at least a little recon.” Shiro suggested.

The General heaved a put upon sigh, and grunted, “Very well. SG-1 you have a go. Be ready to embark at 1400 hours.”

The team saluted him as he left and Pidge couldn’t help the smile that spread from ear to ear once he was gone. “This is going to be the biggest discovery since the stargates, I can _feel_ it.”

Her excitement did not dwindle as they made their way to the castle several hours later. As soon as it came into view, she squealed quietly in delight. Her teammates were resignedly amused, used to her running circles around them when it came to alien tech. She was the team’s resident expert on both Galra and Altean technology, able to read both languages, and speak Galran passably. She needed special hacking software she’d developed to bypass the Galra’s genetically coded tech, but was lucky enough to have the Altean gene that allowed her to use the ancient technology quickly and efficiently. 

Despite her eagerness, when Shiro ordered a complete perimeter check of the castle, the team moved efficiently and swept the area thoroughly. They couldn’t take the chance that there might be Galra lingering about, and Shiro took the team’s safety very seriously. 

As soon as she had the all clear, Pidge and Shiro moved in to sweep the castle itself while Hunk and Lance established a camp. They were going to be here a few days, if all went well, and a long term science team would take over once they’d established whether or not there was adequate cause to stick around.

As she suspected, there was power in the castle. The doors opened at her approach and lights turned on on their own as she and Shiro moved further in. They stopped at the foot of a grand staircase where they were presented with several options which way to proceed. 

“Alright guys, fifteen minute check ins. Keep your eyes open for hostiles.” Shiro radioed to the others, receiving acknowledgements right away in return. “Know which way you want to go?”

Pidge pulled her bag off her shoulder and dug out three Rover drones, activating and sending them off down their own hallways. A tablet displayed the feeds as each Rover explored, taking scans as they went. One of the more useful things she’d invented, the Rover drones were a cobbling together of Galran, Altean, and human technologies designed to map large interior areas in a short amount of time. It didn’t take long for the drones to come back with something interesting. 

“Looks like our power source is that way,” she pointed to the hallway ahead of them, “but there’s one chamber that’s drawing most of the energy down this way.” Pidge looked to the left.

“You’re the expert.” Shiro deferred.

“I want to know what’s drawing that much energy before we do anything to potentially disrupt it. This way.” She followed the map the Rover drones had built down the halls to a chamber sealed by a particle barrier. 

Shiro tapped on it with his P-90, but all it did was make a _twonk_ sound and flash a slightly brighter blue. “Is this what’s drawing the power?”

“No.” Pidge shook her head. “I mean, yes, obviously it is drawing power, but the primary source is beyond. Whatever’s in that room, it’s important enough to keep running for 10,000 years.”

“Right. Open her up; let’s take a look.” Shiro stepped back.

Pidge put her hand against the barrier, but it didn’t budge. She ran her hands long the doorframe, searching for a switch or control panel of some kind, but when she found it, she saw the sensor was damaged. She knelt down to get a closer look and frowned at the scorching. Recent.

“Galra must have tried to get through by destroying the control switch. I’ll have to do a work around to get it open.” Pidge reported, handing him the tablet. She reached into a pocket on her tac vest and pulled out her tools, ready to pry the cover off the sensor to get a look at the interior. “This might take a few minutes.”

“Don’t electrocute yourself.” Shiro cautioned.

Pidge shot him a glare before getting to work. Hunk and Lance reported in twice before she was able to get a connection stable enough to be effective between the sensor and her other tablet. The one Shiro held was exclusively for the Rover drones, since it needed to be able to process real-time scans and mapping from multiple sources across sizeable distances. The one she used on the door, however, was designed for hacking and bypassing alien technology. Also, occasionally, human technology.

“Hmm… Altean technology doesn’t usually fight me like this; there’s some serious encryption on this door.” Pidge remarked, working her way through layer after layer of security.

“Wonder what’s in there.” Shiro hummed.

“Shiro, we may have trouble.” Lance reported. 

Shiro grabbed the radio, all at once at attention. “May have trouble?”

“Galra patrol, three man team coming from the west, about two miles out.” Their sharpshooter clarified. 

Hunk groaned. “Guess that camp wasn’t as abandoned as we thought.”

“Can you take them out without compromising your position?” Shiro asked.

“One, definitely, two probably, but not all three.” Lance replied honestly.

“Fine. Hunk, you and I are going to intercept. Lance, keep your eyes on the perimeter in case they try to flank the castle. Pidge is going to stay inside and keep working.” Shiro relayed over the radio, and then added to her alone, “If I give the word, we bug out. Understood?”

She nodded and got back to work as Shiro departed. A Galra patrol wasn’t going to stop her from the single most important Altean find of her life. 

About five minutes after Shiro left, movement pulled Pidge’s attention away from her computer. She drew her sidearm instinctively, and pointed it at the Galra that had been sneaking up on her. He froze and held his hands out at his side to show he was unarmed, giving her a good view of him as he stood still in front of her. He was smaller than any other Galra she’d ever seen, and she wondered if he was young or if he was just small. His skin was the standard purple, and he had the large, furry ears and yellow sclera just like normal, but he also had pupils, purple irises, and shaggy black hair which wasn’t something she’d seen before.

“Danger.” He said in heavily accented English. 

Pidge had never heard a Galra speak English before, but this one seemed different for a lot of reasons.

“If you mean the patrol coming from the west, we’re aware.” Pidge stated, still not lowering her gun.

He frowned in frustration and shook his head. He pointed to the barrier. “Danger.”

“The barrier?” She hit it a couple times with a fist to show it wasn’t harmful. “It just keeps people out. It’s not dangerous.”

And she’d have it down in a few moments anyway, now that her program was running.

“Pidge, do you copy?” Shiro’s voice over the radio nearly made her jump.

Careful to keep an eye on her guest, Pidge took one hand off her gun and answered her radio. “I copy.”

“Two of your Rover drones went offline three minutes ago; what’s your status?”

Pidge raised an eyebrow at the Galra and asked in his own language. “ **Drone?** ”

He slowly reached into a pocket and pulled out one of her Rover drones and set it on the floor. It looked undamaged, but she’d need to do a thorough inspection to be sure. 

“ **Other drone?** ” She kept her question as simple as possible, the spoken language was difficult to wrap her mouth around.

The Galra shook his head. “Danger.”

“Pidge!”

“I copy,” she reported quickly. “I’ve got eyes on one of the inactive drones, but the other is still MIA, and I think… I think there are Galra in the castle.”

The one in front of her nodded.

“We’re on our way.” Shiro promised. “Keep your guard up.”

The program she’d run to shut down the barrier beeped and the barrier dropped. With her free hand, she pulled the cables out of the wall and tucked the tablet into her vest. The Galra cursed, closed the distance between them in two quick strides and turned, crowding her toward the open doorway while he faced the hallway, and drew a knife as he took up a defensive posture.

“ **Whelp.** ” Four huge Galra advanced on them from the shadows further down the hall. “ **Stand aside.** ”

“ **No.** ” The smaller Galra hissed.

“ **Then you will die, half-breed.** ”

Pidge clicked a distress signal through her radio as the four Galra charged them. The small Galra engaged with two at once, keeping them back, but the other two were able to flank him. She quickly shot both of them, center mass, and they came after her instead. Three more rounds into the first one’s chest stopped him, but she was forced to duck a swing from the second. His other hand caught her by the throat and he physically lifted her off the ground as he choked her. Pidge hefted herself up and wrapped her legs around his neck in return, squeezing while her hands pried one of his fingers off and snapped it. His grip on her neck loosened and she could breathe again, but she had only enough time to take in one big breath before his other hand came up to replace the first.

All at once his choke hold released and he dropped to the ground. Pidge rolled to avoid getting crushed by his dead weight and saw the knife the small Galra had been wielding sticking out of the dead Galra’s back. She looked up just in time to see the last large Galra throw the smaller one to the ground and shoot him almost point blank. Pidge shouted in outrage, picked up her sidearm from where it had fallen, and shot the large Galra between the eyes. 

She ran over to the small Galra and was relieved to see he was still alive. The wound was bad though, and she didn’t know how much longer he’d stay that way. 

“ **Stay alive.** ” She ordered while she did what she could. All of them carried battlefield first aid basics with them in their tac vest, and she pulled out the painkillers and bandages. The blasts from a Galra weapon cauterize any wound inflicted, but the damage to internal organs could be fatal, and there wasn’t anything in her field kit that could help with that. She dressed the wound to keep out infection and then readied the painkiller. “I can dull the pain.”

He grabbed her wrist when she tried to inject him. “ **Pain will keep me awake.** ”

“You sure?”

“ **Yes.** ” He groaned in pain as he got himself into a sitting position, but he didn’t waiver once he was there. “ **Are you injured?** ”

She shook her head. Her neck would likely be bruised for a while, but other than that she was fine. 

“Pidge!” Lance called from out in the hallway. 

“I’m in a room; ahead of you and to the left.” She directed over the radio so she wouldn’t have to shout.

Running steps were followed by Lance, Hunk, and Shiro as they made their way into the room. Lance and Hunk had their guns out and pointed at the injured Galra in a second, but Shiro and Pidge both ordered them to hold fire.

“He warned me about the ambush and he saved my life in the fight.” Pidge explained. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t shoot him.”

“Not kill you.” The Glara spoke each word carefully in English. “Use you. Open door. Open pods.”

“Did-did we know they could speak English? Is that a thing now?” Hunk asked nervously.

Pidge ignored him in favor of finally looking at the room. There was a console in the middle of a slightly raised dais. Along the edge of the dais, there were twelve circles, two of which had a ring of blue light softly glowing around them.

“Last Alteans.” The Galra said, and then passed out.

Pidge checked his pulse. Alive, but unconscious. “Hunk, monitor his vitals. I need to look at the console.”

“Uh, yep. Got it.” Hunk knelt down next to the unconscious Glara and did as she asked.

Pidge picked up the knife her new friend had used as she past the dead Galra, wiped it clean, and then tucked it into her belt for safe keeping. Then she went to the console and woke it up, reading through it as fast as she could. They were in a medbay, each ring around the floor contained a cryopod that could heal or place someone in stasis. Two of them were occupied.

“Holy shit.” She gasped. “He’s right; there are two living Alteans in these pods.”

She wanted to read it all, there was log of patient information regarding both of them, but Pidge had slightly more pressing concerns at the moment. The pods were capable of healing as well as preserving, so she called up one of the empty ones.

“Get him in before he crashes.” Pidge ordered. 

Hunk and Shiro hoisted the Galra into the pod and stepped back as it closed, encasing him in icy mist. Pidge set the pod to heal his injuries and watched as the system scanned him. In addition to listing his injuries, it identified him as half Galra, half _human._

“And the hits keep coming. Our friend is half human.” Pidge relayed to the others.

“No way!” Lance inspected the pod. “How’s that possible?”

“We’ve run into other humans, Lance.” Hunk admonished.

“This is the first we’ve heard of a half-Galra though.” Shiro said. “I wouldn’t think that was possible.”

Pidge agreed. “Two completely alien races producing viable offspring is… astronomically improbable, but we know it is possible. The Altean gene got into my DNA somehow.”

“Yeah, but Alteans aren’t purple.” Lance pointed out.

Pidge smirked. “We have no idea what Alteans look like, we just assume that because those of us that carry the gene look entirely human, so did they.”

“Well, we’re about to find out.” Shiro declared, standing in front of the two Altean pods. “Go ahead Pidge.”

Good first impressions were important for diplomatic meetings, and standing in a room with dead Galra on the floor, fresh from a fight, and heavily armed did not scream a good first impression to Pidge. She pointed all of this out to Shiro who sheepishly agreed. Hunk, Lance, and Shiro cleared the room while Pidge sent more Rover drones to sweep the rest of the castle. If there were more Galra nearby, she didn’t want to be caught unawares again. She waited until her drones gave her the all clear before removing her tac vest, jacket, and helmet and setting them aside. She had the others do the same as soon as they’d returned. Once they were mostly presentable, Pidge made her way back to the console. She did one last check to make sure they were both healthy enough to come out of the pods, and read up on who was inside.

“Okay, deep breaths, Pidge. Just waking up the last Alteans, one of which is a Princess. No big deal.” She murmured hands hovering over the controls. Was she shaking? She was. Cool.

“Katie?” Shiro put a hand on her shoulder, face concerned.

She looked up and him and tried to smile. “Nerves. Order me to do it, Shiro.”

Understanding, he nodded and stepped back to one of the cryopods. “Lieutenant. Open the pods.”

Pidge hit the release and watched as the cryopods opened. Shiro and Hunk were there to catch the occupants as they woke and fell from the pods, disoriented from their slumber no doubt. Pidge made her way over quickly. 

The princess looked young, though that was deceptive. Alteans had extremely long lifespans even without 10,000 years in suspended animation. At first glance, she looked human, though her hair was silvery white and very long. Closer inspection revealed long pointed ears, and two pink splashes of color under her eyes that were definitely not human. The male appeared older, middle aged or a little over, and had bright orange hair and a moustache. He was lighter skinned than the Princess, but he had the same long pointed ears and splashes of color, though his were blue.

They came to quickly and Pidge had to do some translation on the fly--she’d never heard the language spoken aloud before--but they muddled their way through first contact. After several hours combing through the castle’s records and the occasional question sent Pidge’s way, Allura and Coran seemed to catch themselves up on current galactic events and even agreed to come back with them to the SGC, but not through the stargate. The castle was actually a spaceship, and they would not leave it behind. The trip would take longer, but still only a week or so. Lance and Hunk were sent to contact the SGC and update them on what had happened and the new plan.

It was late, she was exhausted, and the Galra that had helped her would be out of the pod soon. The Alteans had _not_ been pleased to learn a Galra was aboard, but Pidge had begged clemency, explaining he’d saved her life and their lives by turning on the others and warning her of the ambush. Reluctantly, they’d agreed to let him stay. 

Pidge waited alone in the medbay for him to come out, the others had been shown to quarters and were sleeping off the day as the ship made its way out of the solar system. The hiss of the door release had her on her feet in an instant. He wasn’t as disoriented as the Alteans had been, and managed to make it out of the pod without collapsing, but he was still wobbly. 

“ **Steady.** ” Pidge helped him stand as he got his bearings. 

He looked around, confused, and then looked to her. “ **You healed me.** ”

“You saved me. Now we’re even and we can start from the beginning.” She smiled and held out her hand. “Hi. I’m Pidge.”

“ **Whelp.** ” 

“I am not calling you that.” She objected.

He seemed amused at her offense and shrugged. “ **It is what the Galra called me.** ”

“What did your parents call you? I know you’re half human, and someone taught you English. Surely they called you something else.” 

The Galra considered it for a moment, thoughtful frown on his face, and then he said slowly, testing it out on his tongue, “Keith.”

“Nice to meet you, Keith.” 

“ **What happens now?** ”

“Well,” Pidge pulled his knife out of her belt and handed it to him, “I supposed that’s up to you. We’re headed to Earth, but we have a teludav; we can send you anywhere you’d like to go… or you could stay.”

“ **Stay?** ”

“On Earth. It wouldn’t be _amazing_ since you’d be limited to the SGC, you don’t exactly blend in with other humans, but it could be good… you could maybe even join the team eventually. You’re pretty handy in a fight, after all, and I can think of any number of reasons it would be good to have you on our side. Or if you’d rather not, there are other things you could do, like help the science teams or translators--”

“Pidge.” He interrupted. She looked at him, slightly embarrassed for rambling, but he just smiled. “ **I would like to stay; I will make myself useful to you however I can.** ”

“You don’t have to prove yourself to me,” she nudged him playfully, “and I’m glad you’re staying. Who knows, maybe your defection to our side will spark a rebellion within the Galra Empire and we’ll get a whole host of Galra on our side.”

Keith shook his head, “ **The rebels exist already.** ”

She blinked in surprise. “Really? Could you help us find them? They could be great allies.”

“ **Possibly.** ” He agreed.

Pidge laughed a little to herself. _This mission._ It was so much more than even she’d expected. An Altean battleship, hyper-advance healing technology, defense shields, a power source, the last living Alteans, a half-galra ally, and a rebel group within Zarkon’s ranks. With this, they could start to make real strides toward making a difference in the galaxy on a much wider scale. 

All thanks to Keith.

When she told him this, he scratched the back of his head embarrassed, but she caught the small smile on his face as well. “ **Not bad for a half-breed whelp.** ” He said.

“Not bad at all.”

**Author's Note:**

> _And thus concludes NaNoWriMo, but that doesn't mean I'm stopping any time soon. I have a long Voltron fic in the works and I'm always open to prompts if y'all are interested in more ficlets. Thanks so much for reading!_


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